Education in Love
by chelsaboolove
Summary: Elena is beginning her first year teaching and has a small third grade class. She is finally ready to have happiness and stability for the first time in her life... Until she meets Damon Salvatore, one of her student's parents.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:  
Hi Everyone! So, this is my first ever fanfiction. Ever. Please excuse any errors I made-I'm kind of playing around with this and am super nervous.  
If you do read this, please let me know what you think (preferably nicely, because I'm a tad sensitive, hahaha) but thank you so much for your time taken on this. If you think I should continue, please let me know!  
****Disclaimer****: The characters, and some dialogue is taken from The Vampire Diaries. I do not own the show or it's characters, I simply just love their stories.**

*****EDITS MADE FROM ORIGINAL*** Nothing like putting something up for the public to see some big mistakes. Sorry about that! Anyway, enjoy. (:**

_Chapter One_

-Elena POV-

"Okay, guys, five minute tidy! First team to have everything clean and put away in an _organized fashion _gets a prize! No, I haven't said go yet guys, sit still… Okay, ready… set… go!"

In a flash, my third grade students start hurriedly putting away their things. It's Friday, so the students are extremely excited to go home, especially since it's the start of winter break, and they aren't the only ones excited. The only difference is, once they get home, they get to go play outside, or play whatever new video game is out for them to play, but tonight my friends are taking me out to Mystic Grill to congratulate me on getting through my first semester of teaching.

It definitely is something to celebrate. Most of my life I had no idea what I wanted to do, but one day in high school I woke up and realized teaching would be perfect for me. I always liked school, and was a pretty good student, too, but what really drew me was the kids. I love kids, and I love helping others, and I'm passionate about education. However, this semester has been extremely long, and I've spent more time second guessing everything I do than actually making decisions. This break is very much needed, if for anything else to get out of my own head.

My students are dashing around the room, but one team is starting to squirm in their seats, and they are all sitting with their hands together waiting as patiently as they can for me to notice they're finished. Not surprisingly, they are a team with two of my best academically successful students, and two of my more academically unsuccessful students. Looking at them now, I don't regret putting them together. The children get the help they need, and they are also beginning to understand how to appreciate things and people that are different than they are.

One student in particular comes to mind when I think about the issues I've dealt with this semester. His name is Aidan. He's a bright student—in fact, one of the best in my class—but he's also a bit of a trouble maker. He knows how to talk himself out of trouble, too. I usually catch him chasing the girls around the classroom, kissing their cheeks, holding their hands. Most of the girls in the class have crushes on him, and from an eight year old girls' perspective, I could understand. He has messy black hair and pale blue eyes, and was, obviously, a smooth talker.

Secretly, though, he was my favorite student. I usually have to catch myself from laughing aloud when I hear a ridiculous comment come out of his mouth when he's talking to his fellow female students. One time, Aidan was flirting with a student named Savannah, and said, "I have a lollipop. Wanna see?"

Savannah looked in his hands and on his table, not finding it. "I don't see the lollipop, Aidan. Where is it?"

Aidan smiled devilishly at her. "It's a me—metaf…. It's a metaphorse!" At that comment, I was walking towards Aidan, already knowing where the conversation was about to go. I was almost to him when he leaned closer to her ear and whispered, "It's in my pants."

"Aidan!" I scolded. "That is inappropriate."

"What?" Aidan looked up at me innocently. "I do have a lollipop in my pants. See?" He dug in his pockets and held out an old lollipop wrapper.

Needless to say, I called his Dad about it, but that in itself was another issue. I could _never_ get a hold of his father. I would leave voicemail after voicemail, and the only form of response I seemed to get back was through email (which he also never answered, unless I left multiple emails), which usually went like this:

"Thanks for letting me know. We will have a discussion."

It made me sad, because Aidan is such a great kid; he just needs a little attention. Aidan seemed to me like he wouldn't act up so much at school if he got enough parental contact. However, I knew Aidan wasn't being abused, but it plagued me that such a wonderful, funny, bright boy may not be getting the love he deserves at home.

I look up again around the room and my students are just finishing up getting things organized. I never let them know who won until everyone has finished; otherwise when I announce which team won, most of the students stop cleaning, get lazy and leave an unorganized mess for me to clean up later. That was one of the first lessons I learned back in August when the year began—most students only do the bare minimum of what they are asked.

"Miss Gilbeeeeert!" The class sang together, bringing me out from my trance. At this point they were all sitting patiently at their desks, everyone's things put away.

"Sorry class! Okay, the winner is… Team One! Yay! Now, who dismisses the class, me or the bell? Right! Stay put, guys. When the bell rings, you're free to go. Be safe and have a wonderful holiday!"

* * *

-Damon's POV-

Today is the two year anniversary of my wife leaving my son and me.

Coincidentally, it's also my son's last day of school before winter break, which I'm glad for, because he doesn't need to see his Dad whither to a bit of an emotional mess, thinking of a woman who apparently never gave a shit about him, or their child together.

I mean, really? Leaving your kid? What kind of a mother is that?

Well, Katherine, apparently. Has she kept in contact? Hell no. The bitch only contacted me by sending me divorce papers through the mail. She never pays child support, because that means being a responsible adult and thinking of someone other than herself.

It's all ridiculous, really. I was never a sappy romantic, not until Katherine. I left that for my brother. Stefan was always the first one to bring a single red rose on a first date, and keep physical contact respectful. Stefan was the perfect gentleman. At the end of the evening, he would land a light kiss on the lips if the date went well; a kiss on the cheek if the girl was visibly shy.

Not me. When I was younger, I was a mess. You couldn't tie me down if my life depended on it. Girls were playthings, objects to keep me distracted from the hellish life I lived at home. I took care of my little brother, made sure he was on the up and up and no one knew how bad we had it. Our family always looked like a poster for the Great American Family, but Father was always preoccupied with work and reputation—he never appreciated his family. Not after Mom died.

Once Stefan and I got older, though, Father took a liking to Stefan. Stefan was the image of Responsible. He was charming in every way possible, no thanks to me. I was the complete opposite, considered an embarrassment to our family; the black sheep.

…Until Katherine came along. She was so beautiful. She had long curly brown hair, and legs that seemed to go for miles. She flaunted everything she had, too. She made sure that whenever she walked into a room, all eyes were on her.

So, to make a long story short, I was charmed; head over heels in love with a woman who could never love anyone but herself. When she got pregnant, I proposed. I wanted to anyway, but could never find the right time. With Katherine being pregnant, I took that as a sign that this was really it—she was The One. We had an extravagant wedding—after we already had Aidan, of course. She didn't want to be pregnant in the wedding pictures.

However, after the wedding, I started to be bothered by things that, before Aidan, never bothered me. For example, Katherine was always preoccupied with having the latest and greatest things, and those things seemed to come before our child. She quickly became impatient with Aidan, and if he would fuss and cry, she'd hastily shove him off to me, so she could go off and do other things.

When Aidan turned five, Katherine would come home later and later from work, and go on multiple business trips. I never thought much about it—I had to take care of Aidan. But shortly after Aidan's sixth birthday, I came home from work late one night and Katherine was gone. Her things had been packed up, almost like she never lived with us.

Ever since, I've been raising Aidan on my own and it's never been bad, but today I just want to step away from being responsible and wallow without Aidan seeing his father attempt to look like he isn't a wreck.

That's why tonight, Aidan is going to spend the night at his friend's house, and my best friend, Ric, is taking me to the bar, and hopefully aid in helping me get shit faced, and forget the soap opera my life has seemed to turn out to be.

* * *

-Elena's POV-

"I don't know, Caroline, this is a little too… Showy, for me."

"Elena, I bet you look gorgeous! Come out; show us your gorgeousness!" Caroline practically screamed. Lord knows I love Caroline, but she's just so... Caroline.

"Okay, okay." I sigh, defeated. I pull my dress up a little and walk out of my bathroom.

My friends stare at me for a few beats, their mouths hanging slightly open. I start to get panicked. "Yeah, you guys are right, it looks terrible, I'm just going to go put some jeans on…"

"NO!" They yelled in unison. I stared at them, wide eyed.

"So, I look okay?"

"YES! Elena, you look drop dead gorgeous! The guys are going to be _drooling _over you." Bonnie exclaimed, excitedly.

At Bonnie's exclamation, I started to get excited, and confidence started bubbling up inside me. I did look pretty good. Yeah, this dress was a little… Sexier than I would go for, but I somehow pulled it off. I don't have to be a teacher outside the classroom, its okay to go out in public and be sexy and flirty and… Happy. Right?

My two best friends ushered me into the car and we made our way to Mystic Grill. While we were driving, I started to feel a sense of peace come over me; a feeling I hadn't felt in a while. It was almost like being able to tell the future.

I had a feeling that, somehow, something amazing would happen, and my future might just _really_ begin tonight.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Hi, everyone! Sorry it took me so long to update; I had this written for a while, actually. I was just really self conscious about continuing, so I thought I could use some encouragement and thoughts from you guys to help me mold this story into something better. Anyway, here it is! Please read, and DEFINITELY review! I'd love to hear your thoughts (even if they aren't positive. I want to know how to make this as well written as possible) and feelings about it.**

**Enjoy!**

**I don't own The Vampire Diaries or any of their characters.**

Chapter Two

**-Damon POV-**

Holy shit.

That was my first thought as I laid my eyes on her for the first time.

At first, I thought she was Katherine. She had Katherine's long, luscious, dark curls; she was even wearing something that turned literally every straight man's head in the Mystic Grill, which is what attracted me to look up from my Bourbon in the first place.

However, something was off about her, which made me realize this woman couldn't be Katherine-not in a million years. The way this woman held herself was entirely different. Whereas when Katherine entered a room, she held herself high—this woman did the opposite. It was almost as if she wanted to hide herself, like she didn't know she was the most beautiful woman in the room.

And just to clarify, she was.

I must have been staring at her pretty intently, because just as I was about to go up to her and ask her if I could buy her a drink (and maybe get a drink at my place later on, if you know what I mean), my best friend Ric slapped me on the shoulder.

"Yo, dude! Wake up man. She's off limits."

I turned to look at him like he was fucking insane. Is he serious right now? This was the _entire reason_ he took me to this shitty pub tonight; so I could drink a little and maybe find an adult playmate to take my mind off of the past. Even though the club had been transformed into some shitty club atmosphere to attract different kinds of customers, I found it as an opportunity to dance behind some woman's nice ass, and persuade her to come back to my place. But now this beautiful woman who could potentially do the trick of helping me forget, just for a night, about my shitty life, Ric has decided to intervene? When this was _his_ idea?

"I'm sorry—What? Please, dear_ friend-_if that's what you still consider yourself after your ridiculous intrusion-explain to me why I shouldn't go over there and buy her a drink and show her the best time of her fucking life?"

"Because she works for me, dude. And I don't know if you've got enough blood traveling through your upper head, but… Your kid goes to my school. Employees dating student's parent's is extremely against every rule ever made." Ric explains, slowly, like I'm already drunk off my ass. Which usually would annoy me, but I'm starting to remember Aidan and Katherine and the girl becomes a distant thought.

"Ugh. Thanks, Ric." I say, taking another sip of my bourbon. "You're killing my buzz."

Alaric laughs. Alaric is the principal of my son's school. Aidan is a bit of a trouble maker at school, and if it weren't for Ric, Aidan probably would have gotten expelled by now. Instead of being hard on Aidan and treating him like he's on the straight path to becoming a criminal like most other adults do, he took him under his wing and ever since Aidan's behavior has improved tremendously. Except in this one teacher's class. Miss Gillar, or something? She continuously sends me emails about Aidan's behavior and doesn't give me a break. But besides her, everyone has accepted Aidan or just given up on him entirely-but that doesn't worry me because he's got me, and he also knows he's got Ric. Since forming our friendship, Alaric has become similar to an uncle to Aidan; which I'm thankful for since my kid brother isn't in town often and has seemed lacking in interest of spending any time with his young nephew.

Oh well. His loss.

My eyes wander back to the mysterious girl. Of course, she's surrounded by two other girls and a couple guys—but surprisingly the girl is alone. Strange. Out of the trio, I would consider the Katherine Look Alike to be the most attractive of the bunch—and one of the least annoying. I could hear the blonde all the way over here, and we're on the other side of the pub. Suddenly, KLA's (Katherine Look Alike) friends are looking over in my direction and whispering in her ear. KLA looks up at me and seems to gasp, and instantly there's a pull between me and this girl-such an intense pull, it makes everything else seem to fall away. It's just her and I, and this underlying sexual tension. I'm staring into her huge brown eyes, and she's staring into mine with equal passion.

Who_ is_ this girl? Do I know her from somewhere? Jesus, she looks so familiar...

Unfortunately our intense stare down is interrupted. Her friends then begin to pull her over to the dance floor, and I consider going on the dance floor and joining them. Well, at least that woman. Her friends would be preoccupied with their boyfriends, which would give me the perfect opportunity to swoop in and do what I had planned when I got here in the first place. Just thinking about it makes me hard all over again, and I forget the familiarity of this girl, and turn back to my friend.

"Look, Ric, I don't want to date her. In fact, I don't want to see her again after tonight. No dating, no relationship, nothing like that with her involved. But you know me… What kind of gentleman would I be if I let her be all alone on that dance floor?" I wiggle my eyebrows at Ric, showing him what I mean.

He seems to ponder this for a second. "Well… By any chance she does let your man-whore hands touch her—which I seriously doubt she will—but if she does, I know that girl, and she definitely needs a release. So if it's just a one-time thing… I can keep it between us. Go. I'm getting out of here, though, so I'm not liable for anything. I trust you can get home okay?"

I grin in response. "That's my man! No worries, Ric. I know how to call a cab. Catch up with you later."

Ric throws a twenty on the bar, paying for our drinks for the past hour, nods at me, and turns to walk out the door.

I turn to the dance floor and make my way to this mysterious girl, hoping she feels as good as she looks.

**-Elena POV**-

This dress is insane.

It's a strapless dress, with black feather looking things at the breast, and then differentiates between black and green thick lacy stripes down the rest of the dress. It fits like a glove and comes down to right before my knee. I like it-It's beautiful and toned down color wise, but it rides up too easily and I feel like everyone is watching me and its driving me crazy with insecurity.

Also, I know I was just super positive thinking and everything, but then Bonnie and Caroline's boyfriends showed up and I'm feeling a little like coming tonight was a mistake, which is adding to my discomfort.

However, to say I'm having no fun would be untrue, but I can't help to feel like I don't really belong with this fun, carefree group. Jeremy-my brother and coincidentally Bonnie's boyfriend-and Tyler are at their best tonight. They're both extremely funny, but I find myself getting a little jealous and bringing myself out of the atmosphere with my friends. As I watch them interact and laugh, I realize I don't have that same carefree attitude. I've spent the last six years working my ass off trying to get myself this future, yet I didn't realize until I got it, that I have this huge future and no life to go with it.

My friends are in love, happy, and successful. I'm successful, mostly happy but… Something is missing. I can't feel what they feel. These past six years have been trying to make myself what I am today, to somehow not let my parents down. Not that they are here to even see me succeed in the first place. I just threw myself into school and work and didn't let myself become unfocused by trivial things like love and… well, life.

Out of nowhere, my friends fall quieter, and I look at them to see what's happening. They all have their eyes on me, waiting for me to do something.

"Guys… What's going on?" I say, confused.

"Elena…" Caroline sighs drastically, like I just don't have a clue; and leans over to whisper in my ear.

"See that guy over at the bar? Look for the tall, dark, and handsome one."

I look over at the bar and meet a pair of ice cold blue eyes. Our gaze holds together, and the music fades away for a second leaving the two of us, just staring at each other. Undoubtedly, he was the most beautiful man I've ever seen… But it might just be because of the vodka I've been drinking. It's really dark in here, being that the Grill has decided to have more of a club atmosphere and has taken most of the tables out and put in a dance floor. Either way, this man has my gaze unfaltering in his own. Are his eyes... Blue? Jesus. They look like they're glowing under the low club-atmospheric lights. Damn.

"He's been staring at you since we walked in."

I feel heat immediately spread to my cheeks. No wonder why I've felt like someone was looking at me-but I didn't feel weird finding out. In fact, I felt more excitement just looking in his eyes these few seconds than I'd felt all evening.

My friends interrupt our intense staring and pull me towards the dance floor. For a few minutes it's just us dancing to the music, but eventually my friends pair off with their boyfriends; and for a moment I feel insecure again. But then I remember… I am in control right now. This is my moment to just let go… and be free.

I close my eyes and let all the noise outside of the music fade into the background of my mind, and let my body lean into the music. I probably look like I'm in some kind of trance, but I don't care. As I continue dancing, I feel all my stress and worries leave my body…

Until I feel another body against mine. I feel a cold hand push a curl away from my face, and tuck it behind my ear. The touch is so intimate, it rouses me from my trance and I stop dancing, my eyes flying open to reunite with none other than the piercing gaze of Tall, Dark & Handsome.

He leans into that me, towards the same ear that he just pushed a strand of my hair behind. "Why is someone as pretty as you dancing alone?" He whispers in my ear.

His voice in my ear sends shivers down my body, but I make an effort to sound like I'm not putty on the floor from this man's brief touch. "I don't know," I say huskily, "but I have a feeling you're about to remedy that."

He pulls back from me and raises his eyebrows, silently challenging me. _Well, challenge _gratefully _accepted, Stranger_, I think to myself. I turn around and back into him, letting our bodies form perfectly into each other. Chris Brown's "Strip" is playing, and we start to swing our hips together. I've never danced like this before with anyone—and I never, under any circumstances, act this way with someone I've never met before.

But as his hands start to wander down my arms, and find their way to my waist, I realize this man I barely know makes me lose my inhibitions. And I don't want to find them. The feel of him against me, his hands on me, feels so right that I never want to leave his hold again.

**-Damon's POV-**

This woman is grinding on me like she's Nicki fucking Minaj.

She definitely hasn't disappointed me in the whole 'feeling as good as she looks' hope I had earlier. Honestly, I don't even listen to this music, but this girl makes me want to change my mind. In fact, the way she's dancing on me, it makes me want to go back to the house and make an entire room catered to dancing to shitty club music if it meant that every woman danced like this one did.

When Ric left and I walked up to her, I almost didn't interrupt her. Her eyes were closed and her curly hair was swaying along with her, and I found myself thinking I've never seen someone as beautiful as her. I've never seen someone just _let go_ like that before, and I was envious. She didn't care who was watching her (which is probably a good thing because everybody was, wanting to have a piece of her; no doubt exactly like I did), or what people would say. She just swayed her hips to the beat of the music.

Nothing could have prepared me for the intense electricity that charged through the two of us as I finally went over and danced with her. Her body molded to mine perfectly-but then she pulls away and looks at me curiously like she's surprised someone would interrupt her.

So I did what I usually do when I'm flirting with girls-push a little hair out of her face and whisper in her ear that she's pretty and why is she all alone on the dance floor?

Instead of blushing like I expected her to, she looked up at me and her deep brown eyes darkened. "I don't know, but I have a feeling you're about to remedy that."

Holy shit. Hell yes, I'm about to remedy that. I'm about to grind into your ass like nobody ever has, and make sure every man in this club knows you're mine.

Before I can answer, she's turned around again and is wiggling her ass against me, and I take a moment to simply lose myself in touching her. As I swag in sync with her hips, I take the opportunity to run my fingers over her soft skin-from her hips, up to the outer curves of her breasts, to her hair, which I move all the way to one shoulder. I return my hand to her hips, and she raises her arm and curls it around my neck somehow, and our eyes meet again.

I can't tell you what music is playing, where I am, or even what my name is. She meets my eyes with this unfaltering, downright seductive gaze, and it literally takes my breath away. I'm a grown ass man, and I can't breathe. She's looking at me like she's going to have me for dinner... but then her eyes travel down to my lips.

I really, _really_ like where this girls head is at.

More intimately than I'd like to admit, I took one hand from her waist, and placed it on her chin, and pulled her close to me-and kissed her.

And holy fuck, was that a kiss.

It started out just curious—at least on my end. It just seemed right to kiss her. I mean, she's the one grinding on me and staring at me with that fuck-me gaze and staring at my lips like she hasn't eaten in a week-but she kissed me back with such hunger; it was like she was releasing all of her pent up frustration into me, and the more we kissed, the closer our bodies mended together. One of my hands was in her hair and the other was still pulling her closer to me. Her hands were all over me, mirroring my own feelings. I couldn't get enough of her, and apparently, she couldn't get enough of me.

I pulled away from our embrace and met her eyes. Even in the darkness of the Grill, the girl glowed. Her plump lips curled into a small smile, and I realized then that her friends were calling for her. What was up with the whole world seeming to fade into the background when I'm with this girl I've known for, what, five minutes?

She tangles her fingers in my hair and kisses me again; this time slower, softer. She pulled away after a second and whispered in my ear, "Thanks for the dance."

And she walked away, back to her friends and out of the Grill.

I watched her walk away, dumbfounded. She was... Leaving? Just a second ago we were making out on the dance floor and she's... Leaving.

I almost don't walk after her, but the purpose of the night hasn't been lost. I regain my composure and race outside after the group, finding the girl right before she was about to get into the car.

"Hey!-um..."

The blonde friend giggled at the girl I was just dancing with and poked the girl I'm trying to talk to's attention. She whispers in her ear again and she freezes, halfway into the car already and just curls her lips in this secretive smile, and starts walking toward me.

Once she's standing in front of me, I smirk at her. "So, what, you're just one of those girls that dances like that with guys and doesn't even give the guy their name?"

She smirks right back. "I don't think you ever gave me your name, either. Just showing you the same courtesy, sir."

I take her hand in mine, and hold it to my lips and I kiss the back of her hand. "Damon."

She smiles. "Elena."

"Well, Elena," I drawl, still holding her hand in mine. "Are you sure that you want to leave here after that with your friends? Do you maybe... Want to come back with me?"

"Well, Damon, I'm not really that kind of girl. But maybe some other time..." She winks at me and walks back to the car with her friends, and drives away.

Holy shit.

At this point, I'm not thinking about getting laid. In this unexpected turn of events, all I want to know is who that girl is and if I'll ever get to see her again to find out.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hi, everyone! Sorry it took so long for me to update. I was trying to get through my second semester of college with really great grades, and I didn't know how to balance out that, my social life, and this story. Whoops. Also, I didn't know where I wanted this to go, but updates should be more frequent now. It's summer, I'm off school, and I wrote an outline for where I want this to go. Sorry I've kept you waiting! Thank you so much for the reviews and the encouragement to keep this story going. I appreciate it so much! As usual, please read and review. (:**

**-Damon's POV-**

The next morning, after Mysterious Girl Elena waltzed in and out of my life, I came home and took a really, really cold shower, and fell asleep. I probably should have found another girl to rock my world for the night, but after that intense moment on the dance floor, I didn't have it in me to woo someone else. We didn't even have sex, and I felt more... '_okay_' than I had in a long while. It didn't ease the sexual frustration, but it made me feel good to have Katherine off my mind for a while-which I guess was the whole point.

I turned over in bed and looked at the clock. 9 o clock in the morning. I sighed. Admittedly, I missed Aidan. Usually he's up and about around this time, jumping in my bed to make him breakfast. I wonder if it's too early to pick him up...

I pick up my phone and call Rose, the mother of Christian, Aidan's friend from school. While dialing the number, I feel a pang of guilt. No matter how good it felt to be with that Elena woman, I am still a father. I have a responsibility to my son, and I spend an entire day moping around over something that's been done for two years. My son needs me, and I continuously let him down.

"Good morning, Damon! Have fun last night?" Rose teased when she answered the phone, obviously oblivious to the internal war I'm having with myself.

"Well, yes and no. Not the fun you're thinking about, though," I answered, detached. "How's Aidan?"

"Oh, he's great. Bouncing off the walls now. He and Christian demanded I make them pancakes this morning for breakfast. I just sent them outside to play-all that pent up energy in their system was about to explode! Would you like me to put Aidan on the phone, though? I think I can pull him away for a minute or two..."

I smiled at the vision of Aidan "and Christian" demanding pancakes for breakfast. No doubt it was Aidan's idea. Pancakes were his favorite food group (yes, I did say 'group'. Try and get an eight year old to eat vegetables, and tell me what you'll do when he refuses to eat until he gets what he wants-I guarantee you'll let that unhealthy food choice dominate your child's eating habits so that he doesn't wither to nothing), besides pizza. Pancakes and pizza. I don't know how he does it. He'll grow out of it, though. I was like that when I was a kid, until I tasted my mother's food. Aidan hasn't tried mine yet, so he hasn't been privy to what truly good food tastes like. But he will. He's Italian, just like his daddy.

"No, that's okay, Rose. I'm guessing he probably doesn't want to come home any time soon?"

Rose hesitates. "Ummm... He may have asked me to stay until noon. Is that okay? I figured you probably wouldn't be... Um, ready, before then. But I can take him home for you, if you want?"

I bite back a sigh. In theory she would be right, but in reality, sex or no sex, the woman would have been out the door when I woke up. My kid comes first, no matter how much it seems otherwise.

"Yeah, you're right. That's fine. Thanks, Rose. I'll give you some money for gas and for taking care of Aidan. I want you to know I appreciate it."

"Oh, don't worry about it, Damon. Aidan's practically family. I'll see you around noon. Get some rest and relax before Aidan gets home!"

I laugh weakly. "Yeah, yeah. Bye, Rose." I hang up the phone, get up and rummage around my kitchen to make some coffee. Once the coffee pot is done, I look for the creamer and realize I'm out.

Well, we need food anyway. I get my keys and head to the grocery store.

**-Elena's POV-**

Well, last night was pretty weird.

Not only does it seem I momentarily lost my mind, but Caroline won't shut up about TD&H (Tall, Dark and Handsom)-AKA Damon.

"Elena, you could have gotten lucky! He was staring at you like you were a brand new Lamborghini with black leather seats and the best stereo system money can buy!" Caroline brags, getting herself a coffee. My friends decided to stay the night since they wanted to dish out the details of my temporary promiscuous actions on the dance floor.

I mean we kissed. And that was... Only the _best_ kiss I've ever received. And he kissed me like he'd wanted to kiss me for years, but at the time we didn't even know each other's names?

Neither one of us seem like very responsible, mature adults.

Probably because we're not. I mean, come on. I spend most of my time with eight year olds and enjoy it. What does that say about me?

"I don't know, Caroline. It felt nice, yes. It wasn't groundbreaking or anything like that, though. He was just a really cute guy that just happens to have the most smoldering blue eyes I've ever seen. No big deal," I shrug.

Caroline rolls her eyes at me. "Whatever, Elena. I'm just saying it's nice to see you go out there and just... Get what you want, you know? I mean, you're not going to be young forever. You never took advantage of those times in college, or met anyone new. I'm just afraid..."

I give Caroline a cold stare and she trails off; for good reason. She knows why I didn't go all wild and crazy in college. I didn't go wild and crazy in college because I got wild and crazy in high school and it left me without two parents. I guess you could say I learned my lesson early.

"What are you afraid of?" I ask, encouraging her to rephrase what she was about to say.

She looks at me with a soft, understanding look. "No, you're taking it the wrong way, Elena. I'm just afraid you're closing yourself up to everyone new." She walks up to me and puts her hand on my shoulder. "I know Bonnie and I are the best people who will ever walk into your life, but you're such a great person, Elena. Everyone loves you, and you don't even have to try. Yet you can't see it. As your best friend, I just don't want you to be alone. You deserve love, and happiness. And you've just never been the same since..."

I tense at the end of her spiel, and turn back to cleaning the counter off, or anything other than looking her in the eye when she says the truth I don't want to hear. "I know. Thanks, Caroline. I'm glad to have such a great friend like you."

That distracts her from our momentary serious talk. She giggles and fans herself. "Oh, I know. I'm amazing. Anyway, do you have any creamer? I don't see any..."

"Ah, shit." I look at Caroline apologetically. "You know I don't drink coffee, just tea. I only have the coffee machine here for you guys. Let me run to the store and get some, okay?"

"Okay. Do you want me to go with you?"

"Nah, that's okay. I'll be right back," I wave goodbye and walk out the door...

...and out of the tension of that dreaded conversation.

**Damon POV**

Have I mentioned that I hate grocery shopping?

On my way to the store I realized we're out of a lot of things. Cereal for Aidan, milk, some cheese, and dinner items. I always put grocery shopping off because I hate doing it so much. Walking up and down the isles, looking for stuff you need, wondering why the hell it's so hard for you to find the items. You've been to this store a million times. Why is it you can't find the stuff you need still, and you've come to the store so often?

Then there's the cheesy music. Who listens to this shit? It's like kind of poppy one minute, then jazzy, then straight up elevator music. And the random announcements. "Buy one get one free of Colgate toothpaste, isle five!" No one wants your overpriced toothpaste. Do they expect people to hear that announcement and run to isle five immediately to buy that buy one get one free deal? I don't even know.

At this point I'm not paying attention to where I'm going and I bump into something with my cart.

"Hey, watch it! What do you think you're-"

The woman cuts off and we stare at each other for a minute. She's looking at me like she's shocked to find me here in a grocery store. Do I know her...?

"Oh! Damon. Uh, you okay? You kind of hit me with your cart..."

I look at her closely. She's got long brown hair, dark brown eyes, olive skin, and she's got sweat pants on and a t-shirt. But those eyes...

Oh my god. It's Mystery Girl!

"Oh! I'm so sorry, Elena. I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing. I apologize."

She smiles sweetly at me. "It's fine."

Awkward silence ensues. While Elena turns her attention back to the isle, I take a chance to study her again. Sometimes you get drunk and you realize in the morning the girl you thought was the most attractive thing ever turns out to be... Not. You know? But it seems my intoxication level did nothing to my eyesight, because she's still... Really hot. She's not in the bangin' dress from last night, but her hair is in this really sexy bun thing, and she's wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants. I think there's a song by some overrated rapper guy who says something about a girl looking good with sweatpants and no makeup on, and I suddenly realize what he's talking about. Some girls can't pull that off, but apparently Elena can.

"Ms. Gilbert!"

I look up to see what disrupted me from checking out Elena, and see a tallish, plain looking guy with blond hair walking over and smiling at Elena like he just won the lottery.

Oh yeah. I'm not the only one in this town who wants to get into this girls pants, clearly.

"Hi, Matt! Wow, it's so nice to see you! Out of the classroom environment I mean. You look so... Laid back."

This Matt dude and Elena hug each other, and begin chatting. I start to wonder if I should leave, but then I remember something Elena said. And that last name... It sounds so familiar.

"Uh, not to break up this friend powwow or anything, but classroom?"

Elena looks from me to Matt. "Oh, I'm so rude! Matt, this is... Damon. Damon, this is my fellow coworker and friend, Matt Donovan. We both work at Mystic Falls Elementary."

Wait. That's where Aidan goes to school.

"Really? What grade do you guys teach?"

Matt answers. "Well, I teach fifth grade math. The kids are alright, but they all think they're adults because they're heading off to middle school after the year is over and sometimes it can get annoying, dealing with their attitudes. But Elena has the best grade of them all-she teaches third grade."

Hmmm.

Elena laughs. "My kids can be a handful sometimes too. For example, there's a kid in my class named Aidan. He's a trip. He's full of energy, but he is definitely a lot to handle in the classroom. He loves to misbehave. I think he only misbehaves though because he doesn't get enough attention at home."

I'm fuming. This is the teacher that's constantly emailing me! About my son! And here she is, laughing about him with some other dopey teacher. And she has the audacity to question my parenting skills. Coming from a teacher who probably doesn't even have kids. This bitch doesn't have a clue.

"You know what? Maybe your students would behave better if you started focusing on how they act in your classroom and rectifying that, rather than emailing their parents every time something goes wrong."

Elena's smile disappears. "I'm sorry... Where is this coming from?"

"Well,_ Ms. Gilbert_, I'm Damon Salvatore. Aidan Salvatore's _father_." I quip, and that silences her.

Elena's mouth almost drops completely to the floor. She reaches out to touch my shoulder. "Mr. Salvatore? Look, you misunderstood me, I've been trying-"

I push her hand away and interrupt her. "I don't think I've misunderstood anything. What I do understand, is that I will be taking my son out of your class as soon as possible. Good day, Ms. Gilbert."

I walk out of the grocery store with none of the things I had when I came in, and go pick up my son; disbelieving I ever wanted to sleep with someone like _her_.


End file.
